Thursday, May 31, 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Yesterday, I was saying goodbye to the 7MSN herd (and Carson) in brilliant sunshine and 80ish degrees... Today, I'm back home...in torrential rain (blustery wind and a bit of hail, too) with a high of... ((shiver)) merely 53 degrees:As sad as this sounds, I woke to an amazing sight this morning. You see, when I left Critter Farm six days ago...

these tulips were not blooming:

these buds were not on my blueberries: the rhubarb leaves were a third of the size they are now:
I hadn't even realized the ornamental pear had blooms on it:

and these leaves on this Japanese Maple hadn't even considered opening:

Apparently, while I was briefly away in New Mexico, Oregon agreed to finally let spring commence:

This sadly didn't change Chester's overall attitude at all:

But that's ok. I had an amazing trip visiting my sweet friends (human and animal) in New Mexico *and* I came home to a garden in full bloom.

Honestly, there are times when I can be a glass-is-half-empty kind of girl, but today my watering can is more than overflowing:

to find the creature that had been bedding down with the
hens at night:

Only, we found nothing but chickens (trying to sleep):

And each other... at the opposite ends of the coop:

"Hey Carson.."

"Hey Danni..."

And, ok, so we did find eventually find the chicken-coop-squatter. Squatting outside the chicken coop. But it was all very anticlimactic: it was just an itsy
bitsy mouse with great big ears. Hardly
worth all the drama, right?

Well, except for the fact that the 7MSN hens caught him and ate
him up today:

That was exciting. (They sure do make chickens different in New Mexico.) And that's all I'm going to say about that.

But here.. this is
the incredible thing I really want to talk about...

Look at our friend, George. He wore a saddle for the first time ever today... :

And, ohmygosh, he was such a star.
Not only was he completely relaxed wearing that saddle, he had no
problem taking both Carson:

and me for a ride:

Alan stuck very close and observed everything his buddy was doing:

At the end of his first-ever riding lesson, George got so much love and praise:

It was after all this, then, that Señor Don agreed to chauffeur our ranch limo:

And off we went to explore the Back Forty. Our goal? To locate
and observe the recently released (and suddenly feral) donkeys of 7MSN and Morning Bray Farm:

Justina and I had prime seats in the back:

Of course, 7MSN Back Forty Tours are luxurious affairs, catered
with only the finest refreshments:

Ah ha... a sighting!:

Crikey! This one's approaching us:

You know, it's a funny thing about these feral beasts...they seem to enjoy
coming in for kisses:

... and pats:

...and bum scratches:

Apropos of nothing and just for fun,
here's a picture of Carson taking a picture of Justina taking a picture of Don :

And did I mention that it was a magnificently beautiful day?:

Much too soon, it was time to round up the Morning Bray herd so they could get back home:

The feral beasts were actually amazingly cooperative:

And another lovely day of friends, critters and laughter at 7MSN came to a close:(Unless you want to hear the story about how Carson and I went out later in the dark in pajamas with flashlights and cameras to
identify the specific type of rodent that has begun bedding down with the
chickens at night....)

About Me

I am a self-proclaimed country girl who, until recently, was trapped in a city girl's life, spending her days (and nights) as a stressed-out high-tech professional. A life in the country is what I lead now - I finally get to be a farm girl for real...